Does Online Shopping Create Urban Congestion?

Meetingofthemindswebinar18April2018

AlisonConway,TheCityCollegeofNewYorkMichaelBrowne,UniversityofGothenburg

Does Online Shopping Create Urban Congestion?

MichaelBrowneProfessorofLogisticsandUrbanFreight,UniversityofGothenburg

Cities and e-commerce: an urban freight transport perspective

Somefundamentalproblemsinurbandeliveries:

•  Space•  Time•  Organization

Impactsoftheriseine-commerce

Rise in e-commerce and online shopping

•  Annualgrowthrateglobally:20%ayearoverpast10years•  Totalshareofretailsalesworldwideestimatedatabout9%•  Bigvariations:

–  SouthKorea18%IndiaandBrazil5%•  Expectationsofcontinuedsignificantgrowthby2021:China30%ofsales,USA18%,UK20%

•  Variationinproductsboughtonline–importantforurbantransportpatterns

E-commerce and complexity •  Products:Foodvsnon-food

–  temperaturecontrol,basketsize,orderfrequency,repeatorders,vehicleusedfordelivery,timeofdayofdelivery,location

•  Deliverylocation– Home(buildingtype),Workplace(companypolicy),Collectionpointsandlockers

•  Varietyindeliverysystems–  Time-definite,Sameday,Instant

Urban density and transport energy

Butreducedcarownershipandusewillmeanchangesinurbanfreighttransportneeds

http://old.grida.no/graphicslib/detail/urban-density-and-transport-related-energy-consumption_eda9#http://regardssurlaterre.com/en/data-maps/high-density-cities-make-lighter-travelhttp://www.who.int/sustainable-development/transport/strategies/land-environment/en/

Some issues to consider •  BlurredlinebetweenB2BandB2C

–  Deliverytoworkplace:SomeestimatesfromLondonshowthatover50%ofpackagesdeliveredarereallyB2C

•  Buildingsnotdesignedforthevolumesofpackagesnowbeingdelivered(residentialandcommercialproperty)

•  Activitiesmaybeconcentratedintopeaktrafficperiodsintheday•  Increasingvarietyofdeliveryoptionsandvehiclesused–issuesof

employmentandworkconditions,safetyandregulation•  Theimportanceof‘freedelivery’andfragmentationinthelastmileof

thechain

Pressureoncurbspace

Analysis of next-day parcel deliveries in central London

•  VehicleroundsstudiedinLondon’s‘WestEnd’

•  Averagedrivetimebetweenstoppinglocations4minutes,with8minutesvehicledwelltimeateachvehiclestop

•  95%ofvehiclestopstookplaceon-streetatcurbside

•  Vehiclesparkedfor60%oftotalvehicleroundtime

•  Averagewalkingdistancepervehicleround-5miles

•  Majorcurbsidespaceandtimeconsumption Source: FTC 2050 Project

Does Online Shopping Create Urban Congestion? The Case of Residential Buildings in NYC

Alison Conway Associate Professor of Civil Engineering The City College of New York

Meeting of the Minds Webinar, April 18, 2018

How should space be organized in cities to accommodate flows while minimizing impacts?

•  Lanecapacities• Curb/loadingspace• Parkingregulations•  Zoningregulations

Data Collection is Difficult DataTypes•  Householdsurveys

•  Buildingrecords

•  Carrierrecords

•  Fieldobservation

Challenges•  Humanerror•  Deliverytimenotalwaysobserved•  Parcelactivity,notvehicleactivity•  Nocurbsideinfo•  Segmentofindustry•  Privacyconcerns•  Expensive•  Limitedcoverage

Benefits•  Receiverdemographics•  Deliverytypes•  Temporaldistributions•  Deliverytypes•  Detailedparcel,vehicle,androutinginfo

•  Detailedparcel,vehicle,andcurbsideactivity

CCNY/Metrofreight Project

•  Fieldobservationat8residentialbuildings•  November/December2016•  9am–9pmweekdays

•  295totaldeliveriesrecorded•  148“other”deliveries•  147mealdeliveries(204bags)

•  1240totalpackagesrecorded

Building Address Characteristics Units Rent($/ft2)

Bronx1 1020GrandConcourse 453 26 Bronx2 3450Wayne 399 20 Brooklyn1 22N6thStreet 360 62 Brooklyn2 100Willoughby 500 56 Manhattan1 101WarrenSt 227 83 Manhattan2 1214FifthAve 229 71 Queens1 4630CenterBlvd. 184 62 Queens2 61-65JunctionBlvd 314 43

Frequencies

• Parceldeliveriesper12-hourday:1packageper1.3u!1packageper6u• Vehicletripsper12-hourday:1tripper7u->1tripper33u

Delivery Times and Vehicle Types

• Deliveriesoccurthroughouttheday• Peakdeliverytimesvaryconsiderablyacrossbuildings• Vehicletypesheavilyvariablebylocation

Time-Space Consumed for Package Delivery

VehicleType Count Parcels

TotalParkingDuration(min)

Est.VehicleLength(ft)

TotalTime-SpaceConsumption(ft*hour)

Time-SpaceConsumptionperparcel(ft*hour/parcel)

PC 10 27 51 19.00 16.15 0.60CV 24 54 115 18.68 35.80 0.66SV 48 627 791 22.60 297.94 0.48SU 12 151 265 30.00 132.50 0.88ST 2 5 44 45.50 33.37 6.67Sum 96 864 1266

NYC Dedicated Commercial Parking Supply, Spring 2017

NYC DOT STATUS Database

2017 NYC DOT STATUS Database 2016 USPS Household Survey, US Census Bureau ACS 5-year Household Incomes, Field observations

NYC DCP MapPluto

Online shopping does contribute to urban congestion …

What can be done?

Some Initiatives to Reduce Impacts Regulators•  Spaceforloadinganddistribution•  Time-appropriateparkingregulations•  Updatedzoningregulations

•  Off-streetloadingrequirements•  Freightelevators

Receiver•  Relaxingtimeddeliveries•  Shared/commonprocurement•  Conciergeservicesinlargebuildings•  Deliveryretiming•  Increasedon-sitestorageatreceivers•  Bestlocationforpersonaldeliveries

Carriers•  Technologyaidstoimprovedriverefficiency• Optimizedroutingfordrivingandwalking• Coopetition/Jointdistribution

Multi-tenanted Offices – Joint Procurement/Consolidation and In-house Logistics

•  2x7-floorofficebuildings• Onehas:

•  fargreaterprocurementconsolidation•  In-houselogisticsservice•  Blockwithprocurementconsolidationreceives50%fewervehicledeliveries

•  Eachvehicledelivery20%fasterinblockwithin-houselogisticsdespitelargerdeliverysize

•  Opportunityforconciergeserviceand/orlockerfacility

Information and Technology to Assist the Inexperienced Driver

Experiencedvinexperienceddriver•  29%lessdrivingtime•  39%lessparkingtime

Operational issues include:

•  Parcel loading strategy at depot

•  Vehicle routing and scheduling

•  Best place/s to park vehicle •  Finding parcels each time vehicle

stops

•  Walking routeing and scheduling

•  Finding actual point of delivery

Alison Conway aconway@ccny.cuny.edu

https://www.metrans.org/metrofreight

Michael Browne michael.browne@handels.gu.se

https://www.chalmers.se/en/centres/lead/urbanfreightplatform/

https://www.coe-sufs.org/